Sunday, April 25, 2010

I (Christa) have been trying to get photos of each thing I make for Art on the Avenue right after I make them. For one I want to post each thing on our Facebook page to draw interest. Secondly I don't want to have a huge stack of products to get pictures of at one time. I really prefer to have kids sporting the hats or headbands versus my using some kind of prop. For Etsy, I don't worry about it as much and like a mix, but for my one photo on Facebook I want people to see it in action. Action is the key word. Have you ever tried to get a good shot of something a kid is wearing?! Haha! It's a good time. I thought I'd just share a few of my bad attempts :) I've also encountered the misleading of the screen. When reviewing photos on the little screen they look great, but when downloaded...well, they aren't exactly what you thought they were. Luckily, the good come with the...not so good. :)

This one is soooo cute, but the headband is out of focus.

Also super adorable, but you can barely see the headband.

The crest/spikes are pretty much out of the picture.

Satisfied. It's not perfect, but it's cute and you can see the product. I know everyone had different ideas of what the perfect shot will be for their product, but I like this. Kids outside (or inside), having fun, wearing things we've made.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Melissa here. This is my first blog! D is sleeping, R's playing with his pirates, and A's doing an Explode the Code lesson. So, here I am with a few minutes to myself and I thought I'd share my progress on the tic tac toe game set I've been working on.

I started with this set, but realized that I didn't need to create a checker board, so I've changed my board to a solid color with embroidered lines. I also decided to make the granny squares and O's two different colors, to make the two players pieces more distinct.

Right now, I have three complete tic tac toe sets, but I've been folding them up like wontons with a tie enclosure. Well, it really bugs me that children who use this game will likely not be able to tie a bow or figure out how to close it up neatly. So, I've been considering all sorts of enclosure systems, because I want this to be an on the go type of toy. Plus I love it when my kids toys are easily managed and all the pieces stay together. I like the little pouches for the game pieces, but as for the wontons, I'm not satisfied with my results.

I have this strange obsession with turning everything I make into a bag or purse of some type, and once again, I am toying with the idea of bagging this toy somehow. I woke up in the middle of the night, probably to nurse D, with the thought of adding another panel to the back of the board and viola! it's a bag! I guess it doesn't take genius to figure out how to make everything into it's own bag, but I sure do feel creative when I do! I'm undecided on whether I will include a strap and make it a purse, add two straps like a backpack, or leave it more like a little pillow with no straps at all.

Monday, April 19, 2010

We are hard at work preparing for Art on the Avenue! I know Rochelle and Melissa have been working on some pretty awesome projects. I had started a couple, but was having a hard time getting things going. I made a general list of what I wanted to have to sell, but it wasn't very inspiring so I found it a little challenging to keep up the pace. The other night I got this great idea for a hat and it's all kind of snowballed. Actually, the hat is for my son Rowan, but it gave me more ideas which made for some good motivation and I've now finished at least three things! Woo hoo! I also now have a more substantial list of specific things I'm going to have for sale at Art on the Avenue. Anyone in Hickory should come out and see all the vendors/crafters! Also that day is the International Festival in downtown. There is supposed to be a shuttle to take people back and forth. I'm nervous and excited for this event since it's our first. Will people like our stuff? Will we sell very much? How many people will actually be there? Will I finish my list of items to make?! Deep breath. Deep breath. It will be a great experience if nothing else. Here are some of finished products!

Monday, April 12, 2010

I love the internet for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorites is for looking up interesting ingredients and finding recipes to use them in. Of course, you can always find new recipes for old favorites, too. One of my faaaavorite dishes is Ravioli, and I love to find new and interesting things to stuff in my ravioli, and interesting sauces to drown them in.

Last week, Bill made the following recipe I found online at the Food Network. Apparently this is an Emeril Legassi recipe, but don't let that turn you away- it is DELICOUS!! (Okay- I am not a chef, or a cook, or even much of a water-boiler. So, my husband may have taken serious liberty with this recipe and I would have no idea. Just so you know.) But, whatever he put on the table was inspired by this recipe and was fastastic!

(This is Emeril's picture. I don't have a picture of Bill's concoction, because I was starving and had a fussy baby on my hands!)

So, in honor of our delicious dinner, this weekend I created this adorable set of Felt Ravioli and Felt Sauce. My husband jokingly asked me what kind of ravioli they were, and I shouted, "butternut squash with a sage brown butter sauce!"

But probably not, as this is a red sauce. Maybe they are more like Portabello stuffed ravioli with Tomato Sauce like here.

This guy's idea of cooking is to pull a bag of frozen ravioli out of the freezer and pop open a can of sauce! NICE!!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Wanted to give a shout out to a friend who is also trying to start an online business for her lovely homemade goods. Meredith has a shop on Etsy called The Hazel Hive (http://www.thehazelhive.etsy.com). She has a variety of sewn goodies from aprons to her own stuffed monsters. She also made Rowan a seriously awesome shirt for his birthday, which I did kind of beg her to do after she showed me the one she made for her son for his first birthday. Anyways, go check out her fun stuff! Oh, she also has a blog http://www.thehazelhive.blogspot.com. Also, the super cool turtle in the photo was made by none other than our very own Melissa. :)

This is kind of a horrible shot of Rowan, but it happens to be the only good one (even though it's not very good at all) of his awesome shirt!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Recently I (Christa) realized that I tend to make the same things over and over. I don't particularly mind this since it's good practice and I can reevaluate my patterns, however some of the "newer" patterns I've been using are starting to get old. I'm slightly ADD and appreciate change. One of the reasons I loved crochet is because I could make something in one night. I remember trying to knit my first scarf over and over and it took FOREVER! Then I re-learned how to crochet and made the thing in one night. Seeing results so quickly seriously appealed to me and I've been hooked ever since. Oh wow...did not mean to make that pun, really didn't. Anyways, I'm getting off track...see, ADD. So lately I've just sort of been searching for something a bit different when it hit me that there are some hats I made for Emery last year or the year before that would be super fun to make and I think other people would like them as well. Instead of something brand spanking new I need to go back to some older projects and polish them up a bit. I also think that I could stand to think outside the box a bit. What exactly that is going to look like...who knows, but I'm ready to find some more inspiration. Yeah, I blogged about that already, but I'm still looking. Here's Emery last year in one of her hats.